‘Walking a tightrope without a net’

Abstract

Abstract This chapter studies the opening phase of the interactions between the UN’s peace operation in the DRC and the ICC, and shows how a set of activist decision-makers worked together to bring about substantial formal and informal cooperation. The ICC opened investigations in the DRC in June 2004 and relied heavily on the UN mission there to understand the conflict situation, obtain secure transports, and sometimes also for accommodation. The UN, though hesitant, provided much of this required support. This occurred despite the fact that the United States had explicitly told the mission that it did not support any cooperation with the ICC. The UN was even involved in an attempt to arrest the Number Two of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, who was an ICC fugitive. This chapter closes with the run-up to the 2006 elections, which coincided with the ICC’s first warrant in the DRC situation.